Final report.

Time is running enormous fast and soon we will say goodbye to our NGO and our team.I would like to thank all the tutors,Nancy,Alan,Sheila for being patient while listening to our stupid repeated 1000 times questions =) I hope that experience I got from Project Community classes these 2 months would be very useful and practical for my future life,work.

So, we were using many online communities and networks in innovative design tools like Google hangout, Spidergram,Meetingwords.com and others and every item is beneficial for working, but in my opinion, meetingwords.com is the most important tool i have learned.

Meetingwords.com is the website when you can collaborate with a group of people and start chatting with other groups,therefore it makes a big communication field,where every group or person can share their ideas with others. I think that it is really useful,because nowadays I know that some big companies in Russia like Gasprom are having a problem with the communication inside the company. As there are thousands of workers in the company it seems imposible to hear every department’s opinion on current topics,so I think that this website can easily solve their problem. Futhermore, sometimes you don’t have an opportunity to open your laptop and connect to the Skype or Google hangout(for example when you have only phone) and in this case it is very easy to go on Meetingwords.com and start a chat with others.Some companies are wasting a big amount of money on renting halls for conferenсes with inner departments, but why don’t just create a chat without making people leave their workplace and save a lot of money? Thats why I am going to use this website in my future company(I hope so =)).

During the communication and working with Gogorobi foundation I found out that some design methods are not really useful, for example some people like to complicate the content they are making,but honestly,it’s sometimes doesn’t make sense to us,people considering themselves as digital natives, and do you imagine how many people in the World are not aware of latest Internet tools? Especially the third world countries. Thats why I decided that one of my own design principles would be simpleness. It means that I want to create technologies that would make people easily get into. Linking to the http://principles.adactio.com this point is called The Dry principle.

Moreover,I think that setting rules for people is one the biggest mistake of the world. Most of the designers are very strict to their own personal rules and they are not looking for any changes,even if these changes could raise their project . For example, I always feel upset about cars construction - of course it is obvious that every car brand has its own basic design and industry but in my opinion it’s very unfair to leave people without an opportunity to choose and develop.For example, I really love the look of Lexus cars outside,but when I seat in a car I feel like not in my plate and one thought always is in my head : “what if I could make my own inner design of this car?”Of course,there are some tuning companies of big brands but it is too expensive and long to have a car by your own design. It is just an example,but in the world there are a lot of things that are strict to the rules.Thats why I think that future design work should go by the path of collaborating with clients.I will always pay attention on my client wills,wishes. This point is called Robustness principle.

I am sure that other principles are very important for designers but in my opinion these 2 are the most interesting and useful. And I claim that these 2 principles will change the world.

I am sure that experience i got from Project communities classes will have a big impact on my studying IDE course,hope that all the knowledge will be useful in any direction I will choose in the future.It is so exciting to learn something realistic,practical stuff in the university, not only reading books and learning theoretical knowledge. My advise to next 1st year students is to be enthusiastic and curious about all the things that is mentioned in this class, do not hesitate to ask questions and to try yourself in something you’ve never tried to.Try to participate in as many actions as you can.Sometimes you would feel that it is not yours, but do not stop looking for something that really suits you. Don’t be afraid.

7 comments on “Final report.”

Yura, thanks for your final reflections. I particularly liked the thought about needing to sometimes let go of control of one’s own rules, and resisting setting them for others. And I also liked Meggie’s addition of “listening!!” I’m enjoying reading all of your final posts as my final “listening” of project community.

Hi Yura, it’s great to read that you got very inspired by the course. Indeed there are some great tools out there to help communication. But please don’t forget actually listening is maybe the most important for communication. Because no matter how many great tools you have, if the communication is one way, it doesn’t work.
I really like how you relate your design principles to real life examples. If you are in interested in getting the user more involved in the design process you have come to the right place, there are two more subjects on that in the curriculum. If you are already interested in knowing/doing more with that try using keywords such as user research or particapatory design. And do have a look at de delft design guide: http://ocw.tudelft.nl/courses/product-design/delft-design-guide/course-home/
I love to read about your enthusiasm and can’t wait to find out where that will lead you next.

Yeah about that meetingworld… There is an app for google hangout and skype actually. Sure you cannot have access to hangout if you are using Ios, but skype can be used by any operating system. I do, however, find working with meetingworld on my mobile a hassle, especially when you have to write things down on your mobile using touch screen, it is also quite laggy (skipping frames). It makes me even frustrated, for I keep wondering why the heck I even paid for such an expensive phone if it cannot even handle a web tool… Will they be fixing that in the future? I doubt, it is a free tool you can use and I think their target group is the people sitting behind their pc, not on their mobile.